Categories

Blog Post: Work and Personal Phones In One?

Lest I incur the wrath of tech journalists and bloggers, I want to be delicate when I refer to something that is generating some buzz online. Without this community of content generators getting on board, it can be really difficult to get your idea in the hands of the right people. Look at what happened with Mailbox and their phenomenally-awesome product launch for proof.

However, I think it is fair to say that they do not often speak for the average user some of the time. An excellent example of this can be seen with all of the coverage surrounding Samsung’s KNOX software.

Business Insider, The Verge and CNET are just some of the sites pushing the good news for this product. The headline BI used is the most egregiousness “Samsung Just Made A Brilliant Move To Steal Business From Apple.”

Without knowing the editor responsible for writing that line, I still feel confident in saying they are trolling me.

The reason Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies are so popular in today’s work place is because companies are not springing for phones anymore. If I, as a new employee, are bringing in my own phone I will not allow someone to partition off half of my allotted space (most smartphone buyers purchase the smallest memory size available).

On top of that, most companies are not able to put the correct amount of capital into this sort of data security. Microsoft Exchange is usually the level companies are used to investing in.

I do not want to minimize the ability for this technology to positively disrupt enterprise-level security for BYOD policies. Samsung, just like the approach with near-field communication (NFC), is trying to lead the pack in introducing top-level features into the market. However, it is not fair to say this will affect Apple sales in the least for quite some time.

Apple has been a leader in devices consumers will want to take to work for some time. That kind of inertia can sustain companies for quite some time (i.e. Microsoft). As is, Apple doesn’t have to sell people this concept, their competitors do. A look at current Samsung advertising is evidence of that.

When reading online reviews and reports from the web press, it is important to keep in mind their perspective. These contributors are leaders when it comes to access and insight. The ideas presented in all three of these articles have real value and I am thankful for their place in my work. For most users though, they just don’t think the same.

My name is Chris Murman, thanks for visiting my space.
As an IT consultant, I am constantly in search of ways to make the work we do better. This means bringing a lean focus to the products we make, a holistic approach to agile business processes, or an intense focus on the technologies of tomorrow.
This blog is a collection of all thoughts related to those, and many more endeavors. Come participate in the conversation with me!